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Shabab says special forces attack 'failed'

Foreign special forces have staged an sea and air attack on a key base of Somalia's al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab, the insurgents say, claiming the assault failed.

Islamist commanders in the southern Somali port of Barawe said commandos - presumed to be from a Western nation - rappelled from a helicopter on Saturday night as they tried to storm a house belonging to a senior Shabab commander.

The assault comes two weeks after Shabab gunmen attacked Kenya's Westgate shopping mall, massacring 67 people in a four-day siege.

"The enemy of Allah tried to surprise the mujahedeen commanders with a night attack using a military helicopter, but they were taught a lesson and they have failed," Mohamed Abu Suleiman told AFP, the Shabab commander in the small seaside town.

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"Our mujahideen fighters inside the house fought back and the cowards ran away."

Shabab spokesman Abdulaziz Abu Musab said attackers also stormed the beach by boat.

"The bungled operation was carried out by white people, who came with two small boats from a larger ship out at sea ... one Shabab guard was killed, but reinforcements soon came and the foreigners fled," he told AFP.

"Where the foreigners had been, afterwards we saw lots of blood, so maybe we wounded some."

Witnesses reported heavy gunfire as the helicopter hovered overhead.

"I woke to the sound of the helicopter above the neighbourhood, then a few minutes later, there was fighting, gunfire broke out for about 10-15 minutes," a local resident said, who asked not to be named.

"We don't know what exactly happened, but it was an organised attack targeting the house where some al-Shabab commanders were."

Barawe lies 180 kilometres south of the capital Mogadishu, and is one of the few ports left in Shabab hands, although they still control large parts of rural southern Somalia.

Residents of Barawe said Shabab gunmen were heavily deployed on the streets of the port on Saturday morning.

"People are being stopped from getting close to the scene of the attack, heavily armed Shabab soldiers have cordoned off the area," said Mohamed Nune, a resident.

Multiple nations operate special forces in the wider Horn of Africa region, and have deployed similar missions in the past.

In January, elite French forces staged an overnight operation involving some 50 troops and at least five helicopters in southern Somalia in a failed bid to rescue a captured intelligence officer held by Shabab forces.

In 2012, US Navy SEALs flying at least six military helicopters swooped into northern Somalia to rescue two aid workers held by pirates.

US drones are reported to regularly fly over Somalia, carrying out occasional missile strikes.

Since their attack in Kenya last month, the Shabab have threatened "rivers of blood" would flow if Kenya does not pull its troops out of Somalia.